Here's a good tactic - buy some latticework
at your local home-improvement center, and
erect a barrier 4 to 6 feet from the fronts
of the hive entrances. This will prompt the
bees to seek a higher altitude upon taking flight,
one that they will maintain as they fly here
and there. Most people will not notice a bee
unless it is flying at eye level or below.
If their yard has nothing of interest to bees,
they will land elsewhere, stay above head
height when flying over the yard in question.
> stepped on some bees that had a hive in the
> ground and got stung so many times that now
> is deathly allergic
As you well know, that's not how it works.
Someone stepping on a colony in the ground
(bumblebees, yellowjackets) might have a
NORMAL reaction to a dozen stings, but this
is simply a function of the number of stings,
and would not make the person allergic.
If someone were to tell me that they were
allergic to insect stings, I would ask them
where their Epi-Pen was. When they stuttered
and stammered, I would ask them to stop lying,
as any actual allergic person would carry an
Epi-Pen with them at all times, on doctor's
orders. I would also ask them for the name
of the doctor who treats them for this allergy.
The point here is to expose the lie.
No Epi-Pen, no actual allergy.
> She then informed me new of private
> individuals that could take care of this matter.
As there clearly is no private party with the
legal ability to do this, that was a threat to
hire someone to poison or vandalize your hives,
or perhaps do violence to you and your family.
Given her statements, I would contact her landlord
and give a brief, unemotional, and even-handed
report on the interactions you have had with her,
just to let him know that his tenant has
threatened you, your family, and your bees in
a vague, yet mafia-like manner.
I would also contact the cops, and report the
threats to them. Such threats are a criminal
act in themselves, and she needs to be slapped
down hard and made aware that things like
trespass and vandalism are crimes. It is a
general "good idea" to be the first one to
report a problem to the cops. This puts you
in the position of being the "potential victim"
rather than putting you in a defensive position.
Most likely, her idea is to have her husband spray
the hives themselves rather than the fence.
It won't work of course, but it would be bad for
the hives to lose that many bees. Time to
padlock the gates to the back yard. Sad.
While you are at the home improvement store,
buy the smallest weatherproof electrical enclosure
they offer, and glue a plastic shotglass to the
side of the case. Paint the sides of the
shotglass to look like a camera lens, mount it
in an easy-to-see location near the hives,
"pointed" at the hives. The idea here is to
create a bogus, but realistic-looking "security
camera". Extra credit would be awarded for
putting an LED powered by a battery (stop off at
Radio Shack for them) in the body of the case for
that extra-special "big brother is watching"
effect, as everyone "knows" that the red light
means that the camera is "on".
We have a security system here at Farmageddon
as it gives us a serious discount on insurance.
Fully 3/4 of the "cameras" are dummy units.
The dummy units even "pan" back and forth, as
they have small solar panels on top, hooked
to a drive motor inside.